Obama talks Iran with senators

President Barack Obama hosted Senate Democrats at the White House on Wednesday in an effort to synchronize legislative and political strategies — and talk about the divisive issue of Iran sanctions.

The White House has notably split with more than a dozen Democratic senators including Chuck Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey on whether a new round of economic penalties are needed as the U.S. attempts to negotiate a long-term deal to wind down Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Text Size

-

+

reset

On Wednesday evening, Obama delivered a “strong message” that the Senate must continue to hold off on new sanctions while negotiations continue and a six-month interim agreement is implemented, a source briefed on the meeting said. The source added that the back and forth on Iran was “not contentious.”

“The president did speak passionately about a way to seize this opportunity that we have,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) after the meeting. “If Iran isn’t willing in the end to make the decisions necessary to make it work, he’ll be ready to sign a bill to tighten those sanctions. But we’ve got to give this six months.”

Merkley described the general mood as “quite supportive” of Obama’s position, even with powerful Senate Democrats in the room pressing for new sanctions.

The meeting lasted for more than two hours, much of it in a question-and-answer format. In addition to taking questions on Iran, Obama discussed with the 55-member caucus the need to raise the minimum wage, improve education, immigration and maintain a Democratic-controlled Senate in this year’s midterm elections. Several liberal senators, including Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), expressed particular delight with the president’s focus on the minimum wage.

There was little talk of the president’s forthcoming speech about the National Security Agency, Merkley said.